Braid

Puzzle platforming with several types of time manipualtion, the story is... well, I'm not even sure what it is about, but the music s very nice, I'm sure there are secret levels around, but I couldn't find any despite being able to get all the jigsaw puzzles. It's short and enjoyable, get it to tickle your brain a bit.

The less is said about this game, the better. Why? Because it's a game designed to surprise you, and to twist every game mechanic as you progress. The story is a bit convoluted, and maybe only Blow himself know the true meaning, but it's certainly one to be discovered. Play it now!

GO INTO THE GAME KNOWING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. The levels are amazingly designed, the mechanics are great, the visuals are great. It's worth every bit of the super cheap sale price it's at these days. That's all you need to know. Don't read any in depth reviews of the story or anything like that. Trust me and play it and you'll understand why.

Nice visuals and music with misarable gameplay with mediocre puzzles. If you like precise platforming (do exactly as developer told you, every mm counts) than you might actually enjoy this game. For me unplayable...

Hooray. Independent video games programming has been around longer than Personal Computers have been around, but Braid helped popularize the specific "Indie Game" genre throughout the modern digital distribution platforms. Maybe it just opened the floodgates to a loooot of low end crap and Important(tm) software-like objects, I don't know, but there are some pretty nice personal favorite outliers that probably? wouldn't have been seen otherwise without this codified Indie Games trend. So, credit where credit was due, Braid was popular, had a compelling price point, and for better or worse, it changed the market! (until that market ate itself in 2015 rofl chaos reigns) The game itself is mostly ok, but there's some clever time travel features that make it stand out. Maybe I'm just old, but to me, it seemed like essentially a riff on/ripoff of/homage to the original Super Mario Bros. 1, but with none of the expressive personality and wit that made it so remarkable for its time. It also subverts your narrative expectations, because that's what all great art ever in the history of the world does, right? RIGHT? Jeez Louise. The graphics and music are patently inoffensive but pretty relaxing. I found the platforming puzzles to be extremely engaging! However, I did hit the wall and got stumped a few times. Again, I love the do-over mechanics and manipulating the flow of events in real time. I feel these things could be utilized in more games even today. As far any sort of artistic statement on the part of the author? Meh. It's some phony baloney deconstructionist screed. It's pretty dated too, a decade later. Just let people enjoy things at face value, my dude. It's not that deep. I'd give Braid a 3/5 because I think the specific time travel platforming game mechanics are actually very worthwhile but it takes its own navel gazings about repackaging the stuff we already know about video games a little too too seriously.